Beginners and Beyond

For those with blogs, journals etc - Do you ever look back? (Read 84 times)

FreeSoul87

Runs4Sanity

posted: 1/11/2014 at 12:28 PM

Do you ever look back on your running journals when something was really difficult for you and think "wow, and it seems so easy now"?

Last night I looked back on mine, back in 2010 when I first began running and when I injured my IT band and had to start back at ground zero. The injury had severely diminished my confidence and trust in my body causing me to be too afraid to push myself during races, and I struggled for months to break 3 miles during runs. December of 2010 I was nervous about running outside in temps below 40, then in January 2011 realizing it wasn't so bad I found myself running in temps as low as 20. But I still struggled at races, never pushing myself out of fear of injuring myself.

Going through my blog, it is amazing to see the transformation happening right in front of me. It took getting pregnant and giving birth to gain so much more confidence and trust in my body than I had ever felt in my life. I remember thinking how awesome it was to get close to a 9 min pace for a mile back in 2012 and now I am running paces like that with relative ease. Thinking back on the struggles of reaching a 3 mile base and running 3 days a week in 2011 - 2012 to running 4 days a week in 2013 and 3 miles being nothing for me, heck 6 miles is an easy run for me now. I read one post in 2011 about being so excited just to have 30 miles down for a month, and it's crazy because I am now running that weekly and I am over 120 miles a month.

I love going through my blog, I love reading about my journey and where it has taken me thus far. It is so inspirational and motivating, especially since tomorrow's LR will be my longest run yet - 14 miles and I am excited to reach that milestone.

Anybody else look back on their own journey and think wow?

*Do It For Yourself, Do It Because They Said It Was Impossible, Do It Because They Said You Were Incapable*

PRs

5k - 24:15 (7:49 min/mile pace)

10k - 51:47 (8:16 min/mile pace)

15k -1:18:09 (8:24 min/mile pace)

13.1 - 1:53:12 (8:39 min/mile pace)

26.2 - (Debut) - 4:48:10

Just B.S.

posted: 1/11/2014 at 12:49 PMmodified: 1/11/2014 at 1:03 PM

I used to keep a blog for a few years but once i started marathon and tris i didnt have time to

keep it up. I don't keep logs or track of miles. To me once the run or training period is over I look

On to the next one and don't ever feel the need to look back.

But sometimes when I see a photo of the tubby 150 lb me at my 38th birthday who couldn't run 50 feet I am

Pretty sure she would have never believed that 6 months later she would be 120 lbs and a

runner and at 52 she would be training for her 9 th full marathon and first Half Iron.

I try to never forget where I started and to have gratitude for everything I am physically able to do. I know

it is a gift I should never take for granted.

happylily

posted: 1/11/2014 at 12:58 PM

I'm glad you find inspiration in your progress, FS. You have done great so far and still have many more great years ahead of you.

I hardly ever look back at my logs. But I do remember my race times, so I can see my progress this way. I find that what I do today is very similar to what I was doing 5 years ago. Yes, the weekly mileage is a tad higher, and yes, the training paces are a bit faster, but the rest is the same. I feel no need to examine what I was doing in training 4 or 5 years ago. I care about the present and what I can do now. I don't look back in the past, and I don't dream of super faster times for the future. I guess it's because you and I are of different ages. All I want, really, is to be a bit faster today than I was last week. So if I look in the past, it's usually at the preceding week, and sometimes, at the last training cycle. That's all I need. But I admit that sometimes I catch myself smiling when I enter a LR at 8:30 pace "easy" in my log book and I realize that that is faster than my first ever marathon.

I've looked back at my training and been surprised at how little training I did for my first half / marathon. And I cringe. Funny, it felt like I was doing a lot at the time.

I have not raced a half marathon since running my first two within a month of each other over two years ago. But yeah, no, I had no business at all running either of them on what I was running back then. Luckily for me though, I did not know that.

"What if I fall?" Oh but my darling, what if you fly? - Erin Hanson

RSX

posted: 1/12/2014 at 12:07 AM

I look at injuries and my notes to heal only if it comes up again. I occasionally look at notes of race times if I run there again. Lately I have been looking at long run times as to how they compare to what I'm doing now. None of these are blogs, but 1 or 2 sentence notes.

MothAudio

posted: 1/12/2014 at 6:59 AM

Summer '94

I've maintained a journal since 1982. I would often look back to compare notes to my current training. Now that I've established a training regimen that suits my profile the only time I bust'em out is to share info with other runners. What I find interesting is how I clearly I see mistakes I made when at the time felt I had written / followed an ideal schedule. Curious what I come to find in my 2009-13 training.

I saw a 26.2 sticker on a car in a handicapped space at my gym. It belongs to a friend who is a doctor and was on call.

jamezilla

Follower of Forrest

posted: 1/13/2014 at 11:14 AM

When I look back at my log the main thing I notice are large increases in mileage, followed by time off (due to overuse injury). I'm (hopefully) doing it right this time and building slowly. I feel a lot smarter and a lot more in touch with my body then I did 2 years ago. It is nice to be able to look back at those reminders of how not to do it.

6/21 - Manitou's Revenge 54mi

A man may never run the same trail twice for it is not the same trail and he is not the same man